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Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
by: David Allen

List Price: $15.00

Amazon.com's Price: $9.43

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Used Price: $7.00
Collectible Price: $22.50
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Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 646.7
EAN: 9780142000281
ISBN: 0142000280
Label: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 267
Publication Date: December 31, 2002
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Sales Rank: 52
Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics)

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
In today's world, yesterday's methods just don't work. In Getting Things Done, veteran coach and management consultant David Allen shares the breakthrough methods for stress-free performance that he has introduced to tens of thousands of people across the country. Allen's premise is simple: our productivity is directly proportional to our ability to relax. Only when our minds are clear and our thoughts are organized can we achieve effective productivity and unleash our creative potential. In Getting Things Done Allen shows how to:

€ Apply the 'do it, delegate it, defer it, drop it' rule to get your in-box to empty
€ Reassess goals and stay focused in changing situations
€ Plan projects as well as get them unstuck
€ Overcome feelings of confusion, anxiety, and being overwhelmed
€ Feel fine about what you're not doing

From core principles to proven tricks, Getting Things Done can transform the way you work, showing you how to pick up the pace without wearing yourself down.

Amazon.com Review:
With first-chapter allusions to martial arts, 'flow,' 'mind like water,' and other concepts borrowed from the East (and usually mangled), you'd almost think this self-helper from David Allen should have been called Zen and the Art of Schedule Maintenance.

Not quite. Yes, Getting Things Done offers a complete system for downloading all those free-floating gotta-do's clogging your brain into a sophisticated framework of files and action lists--all purportedly to free your mind to focus on whatever you're working on. However, it still operates from the decidedly Western notion that if we could just get really, really organized, we could turn ourselves into 24/7 productivity machines. (To wit, Allen, whom the New Economy bible Fast Company has dubbed 'the personal productivity guru,' suggests that instead of meditating on crouching tigers and hidden dragons while you wait for a plane, you should unsheathe that high-tech saber known as the cell phone and attack that list of calls you need to return.)

As whole-life-organizing systems go, Allen's is pretty good, even fun and therapeutic. It starts with the exhortation to take every unaccounted-for scrap of paper in your workstation that you can't junk, The next step is to write down every unaccounted-for gotta-do cramming your head onto its own scrap of paper. Finally, throw the whole stew into a giant 'in-basket'

That's where the processing and prioritizing begin; in Allen's system, it get a little convoluted at times, rife as it is with fancy terms, subterms, and sub-subterms for even the simplest concepts. Thank goodness the spine of his system is captured on a straightforward, one-page flowchart that you can pin over your desk and repeatedly consult without having to refer back to the book. That alone is worth the purchase price. Also of value is Allen's ingenious Two-Minute Rule: if there's anything you absolutely must do that you can do right now in two minutes or less, then do it now, thus freeing up your time and mind tenfold over the long term. It's commonsense advice so obvious that most of us completely overlook it, much to our detriment; Allen excels at dispensing such wisdom in this useful, if somewhat belabored, self-improver aimed at everyone from CEOs to soccer moms (who we all know are more organized than most CEOs to start with). --Timothy Murphy

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Would prevent you from getting things done...
I purchased this book since it has such high reviews on Amazon. Unfortunately, all the book provides are obsessive techniques on how to organize your tasks. Still, you would come up with them yourself anyway as they are all basic common sense.

If anything, taking the time to read this book takes precious time from your schedule to really get things done...

Sorry, but after reading this book I am not more organized than I've been before, and my tendency to procrastinate is still alive and kicking...

Rating:

- A pamphlet would have sufficed.
David Allen's Getting Things Done system is actually quite useful, but you certainly don't need to read this book to implement it. In fact, reading the book might turn you away from the methodology as it did me.

There are definite, glaring problems with Allen's style. For example, he relies heavily on hypothetical cases, often providing examples that are very similar. This makes for a dull, repetitive read, and the simplicity of the examples makes the repetition seem a little offensive.

Also, the illustrations in the book are practically useless. There's only one useful figure (a flowchart) in the whole book. In fact, Allen recognizes the significance of this flowchart by presenting it in three different places (see pp. 36, 120, 139 of the paperback)!

In short, save the $15. If you're serious about developing a methodology, go to your friendly local bookstore, grab this book ... Read More

Rating:

- A great self-help book for those who want to knock off one of their new year resolutions
This is a great book. I was skeptical of these self-help books but after I got it as a gift for the new year last year, I found it to be very helpful in changing the way I handle my work. I found myself happier and less stressed and having more free time from the advice in this book. Well worth it!

Rating:

- Goodbye Franklin Covey and Daytimer
Finally, the one true organizational system that focuses on outcome (productivity) instead of process. It actually clears your mind.

Throughout the years, I have received formal and recurring employer sponsored training in both Daytimer and Franklin Covey organizational and time management system. These were primarily paper based approaches. While clearly capable and expansive (if not expensive) systems (when properly trained), they engage you in processes that can be overwhelming. Simply assembling the planner systems can be a chore that seems to never end (folders, sections, paper based contacts, project management tabs, task tabs, delegated tabs, A-Z filing system, calendar, goals tabs, priorities tabs, personal vs. business tabs, the list goes on). I often found myself more engaged in assembling and reassembling the system more than anything else. By my conservative calculations, I must have spent ... Read More

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